The Huntsville TimesThe candles of those standing vigil Monday night in Murfreesboro offer a light far brighter than the fires of arsonists attacking a mosque under construction in the city about 20 miles southeast of Nashville, says "Tennessean" columnist Gail Kerr.

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- About 80 miles north of my desk in Huntsville, the rapidly growing area around Murfreesboro, Tenn., is experiencing what any growing area does: Overcrowded schools, building booms, and, inevitably, the arrival of strangers.

Strange to our formerly nearly homogeneously Protestant Christian area are those of other faiths or no faith at all. The famous Southern hospitality smile of welcome can become strained when confronted with someone whose ways of worship are so foreign, and whose faith has been stained by the actions of murderers who partly justify their attacks by linking it to their faith.

Construction equipment at the site of what will be a new mosque was torched over the weekend. That violent act -- likely by Christians who would justify their actions by linking them through some contorted line of reasoning to their own faith -- has brought out the best in Rutherford Countians. Monday night, a crowd gathered to light candles in this dark and violent time, candles that call us to our best selves.

Gail Kerr, a longtime columnist for Nashville's The Tennessean, links this moment to other moments she knows from the history of the area and lights a candle of hope that we will yet remember how to behave ourselves. I encourage you to take a moment to read her column.